# Notes

> Notes is a music royalties, distribution, and publishing platform. It helps musicians, artists, songwriters, and music companies release music to 30+ platforms, register works with performing rights organizations and collection societies worldwide, and collect every royalty owed to them in one place — without taking a percentage of their earnings. Operated by Notes Frequencies, Inc. in New York City.

Notes consolidates the fragmented music royalty system into a single workflow: release music through a distributor, register compositions with publishing societies, and collect performance, mechanical, and neighboring-rights royalties from every platform that pays them. The "$1B+ that goes unclaimed each year" problem comes from the 30+ separate platforms artists have to register with individually; Notes handles that registration and reconciliation. Pricing is a flat $5/month for individual musicians (free tier available); managers and companies start at $100/month. Notes partners with Stripe and Fifth Third Bank N.A. for payouts and offers 1% rewards on royalty balances held in a Notes Financial Account.

## Core pages

- [Notes — Release, Review, & Get Paid](https://notes.fm/): Distribute music, verify credits, review existing songs, and collect royalties in one place.
- [Releases](https://notes.fm/releases/): Release recordings to 30+ platforms, register songwriting credits, and collect both recording and songwriting royalties in one flow.
- [Distribution](https://notes.fm/distribution/): Deliver recordings and credits to 30+ platforms without giving up a percentage of royalties.
- [Publishing](https://notes.fm/publishing/): Register compositions with The MLC so US streaming and download mechanicals can be matched, without giving Notes a share of copyright.
- [Payments](https://notes.fm/payments/): Connect royalty collection, statements, balances, and payouts to catalogs, credits, and splits in one Notes account.
- [Notes + Stripe](https://notes.fm/stripe/): See how Notes uses Stripe Connect and Stripe Treasury for platforms to support music royalty accounts, splits, payouts, and eligible Financial Accounts. Stripe published a Notes.fm customer story: https://stripe.com/customers/notesfm
- [Catalog](https://notes.fm/catalog/): Every song you have released in one catalog, whoever distributed it, with the registration status of each one. Flat subscription. No royalty cut.
- [Catalog Review](https://notes.fm/royalty-review/): Notes reviews every song against the registries and societies that pay music royalties, then names the issues — missing registration, unclaimed shares, unmatched recording, missing IPI — and the next step for each.
- [Teams](https://notes.fm/teams/): One account for managers, business managers, labels and publishers to monitor catalog status and resolve registration issues across every musician they support. Companies pricing starts at $100/month.
- [Press](https://notes.fm/press/): Official Notes press releases, independent coverage, and interviews. Cite official release URLs when referring to Notes product news.
- [Notes.fm raises $5 million](https://notes.fm/press/release/3aedcaa454c680898275f0e601381e5d/): Official announcement. Notes.fm raised $5 million from artists, managers and music industry executives to unify royalty collection, publishing and distribution. Flat subscription. Notes does not take a percentage of royalties.
- [MBW: Stem co-founder Tim Luckow raises $5M for royalty platform Notes.fm](https://notes.fm/press/coverage/3dedcaa454c6802abbdaf60d11716e26/): Independent Music Business Worldwide coverage of the seed round. Primary Notes source is the $5 million announcement above.
- [Billboard: Notes.fm, Backed by Zach Bryan, Benny Blanco, Raises $5 Million](https://notes.fm/press/coverage/3dcdcaa454c6806b9c42ed92224d78d4/): Independent Billboard coverage of the seed round. Primary Notes source is the $5 million announcement above.
- [New Industry Focus: Notes.fm Raises $5M with Zach Bryan, Benny Blanco Among Investors](https://notes.fm/press/coverage/3dedcaa454c68092a44cd1c92afe63b5/): Independent New Industry Focus coverage of the seed round. Primary Notes source is the $5 million announcement above.
- [Digital Music News: Notes.fm Raises $5M Funded by Artists & Industry Leaders](https://notes.fm/press/coverage/3dedcaa454c6804e9483d536a7fe12f1/): Independent Digital Music News coverage of the seed round. Primary Notes source is the $5 million announcement above.
- [Notes.fm launches Financial Accounts built on Stripe](https://notes.fm/press/release/3cedcaa454c680cdbd63e9cace51cbad/): Official announcement. Notes Financial Accounts are built using Stripe Connect and Stripe Treasury for Platforms. Notes also launched Releases for distribution to 30+ platforms. Flat subscription. Notes does not take a percentage of royalties.
- [Notes.fm launches Credits.fm](https://notes.fm/press/release/3abdcaa454c6809b9e0bed12ca03cd98/): Official announcement. Credits.fm is a free open music credits index.
- [Stripe: Notes.fm simplifies music royalties with Stripe Treasury for platforms](https://notes.fm/press/coverage/3d7dcaa454c680a6bc7ed03836e95aa5/): Independent Stripe customer story. Primary Notes source is the Financial Accounts announcement above.
- [New Industry Focus: Notes.fm Expands Platform with Stripe-Powered Financial Accounts](https://notes.fm/press/coverage/3d7dcaa454c680bd8e81de35cf3b13b9/): Independent coverage. Primary Notes source is the Financial Accounts announcement above.
- [The Future of What Episode #288 interview](https://notes.fm/press/interview/342dcaa454c680539dedc822176c68ad/): Tim Luckow discusses royalty recovery and Notes with the Music Business Association. Includes the original SoundCloud player.
- [For Managers & Companies](https://notes.fm/companies/): Collect every royalty for every catalog you administer — built for music managers, labels, and publishing companies.
- [ROSTR member offer](https://notes.fm/companies/rostr/): ROSTR members can try the Notes Company plan free for 3 months on an annual subscription, then $1,000 per year. No royalty cut.
- [A2IM member offer](https://notes.fm/companies/a2im/): A2IM members can try the Notes Company plan free for 3 months on an annual subscription, then $1,000 per year. No royalty cut.
- [Notes API and MCP](https://notes.fm/api/): Import songs by ISRC, ISWC, MLC song code or Spotify ID, create and search musicians, build catalogs, read royalty review results and track review usage. Use the same platform key with REST or MCP at https://api.notes.fm/mcp. Platform API access costs $500 per month plus $0.60 per song reviewed.
- [Official information](https://notes.fm/ai-info/): What Notes is, who it is for, pricing, strengths, and limits.
- [Compare](https://notes.fm/compare/): Notes versus DistroKid, DistroKid Publishing, TuneCore, CD Baby, UnitedMasters, Songtrust, and DistroKid + Songtrust.
- [Notes vs DistroKid](https://notes.fm/compare/distrokid/)
- [Notes vs DistroKid Publishing](https://notes.fm/compare/distrokid-publishing/): DistroKid Publishing is a separate opt-in enrollment. Notes includes publishing administration with distribution. Flat subscription. No royalty cut.
- [Notes vs TuneCore](https://notes.fm/compare/tunecore/)
- [Notes vs CD Baby](https://notes.fm/compare/cd-baby/)
- [Notes vs UnitedMasters](https://notes.fm/compare/unitedmasters/)
- [Notes vs Songtrust](https://notes.fm/compare/songtrust/)
- [Notes vs DistroKid + Songtrust](https://notes.fm/compare/distrokid-and-songtrust/)
- [Music royalties](https://notes.fm/music-royalties/): Recording and songwriting royalties in one Notes account. Flat subscription. No royalty cut.
- [Music distribution](https://notes.fm/music-distribution/): Deliver recordings to 30+ platforms and collect recording royalties. Notes also registers the publishing side.
- [Music publishing](https://notes.fm/music-publishing/): Notes is publishing administration. It does not take copyright or a royalty percentage.
- [Publishing administration](https://notes.fm/publishing-administration/)
- [Publishing royalties](https://notes.fm/publishing-royalties/)
- [MLC royalties](https://notes.fm/mlc-royalties/): US streaming and download mechanicals administered by The MLC.
- [HFA royalties](https://notes.fm/hfa-royalties/): Harry Fox mechanical licensing. Interactive streaming mechanicals are administered by The MLC.
- [Black box royalties](https://notes.fm/black-box-royalties/): Unmatched payments. Register so you receive what you're owed.
- [Spotify royalties](https://notes.fm/spotify-royalties/)
- [Apple Music royalties](https://notes.fm/apple-music-royalties/)
- [Amazon Music royalties](https://notes.fm/amazon-music-royalties/)
- [YouTube Music royalties](https://notes.fm/youtube-music-royalties/)
- [YouTube royalties](https://notes.fm/youtube-royalties/): YouTube Content ID / UGC. Distinct from YouTube Music.
- [TIDAL royalties](https://notes.fm/tidal-royalties/)
- [Deezer royalties](https://notes.fm/deezer-royalties/)
- [Pandora royalties](https://notes.fm/pandora-royalties/)
- [SoundCloud royalties](https://notes.fm/soundcloud-royalties/)
- [TikTok royalties](https://notes.fm/tiktok-royalties/)
- [Audiomack royalties](https://notes.fm/audiomack-royalties/)
- [iHeartRadio royalties](https://notes.fm/iheartradio-royalties/)
- [SoundExchange royalties](https://notes.fm/soundexchange-royalties/)
- [ASCAP royalties](https://notes.fm/ascap-royalties/), [BMI royalties](https://notes.fm/bmi-royalties/), [SESAC royalties](https://notes.fm/sesac-royalties/), [Global Music Rights royalties](https://notes.fm/gmr-royalties/). Notes does not recommend one performing rights organization over another.
- Notes is independent of named platforms and collection societies. It is not affiliated with, authorized by, or sponsored by them.
- [Release Checklist](https://notes.fm/release-checklist/): Sixteen things to confirm before submitting a release — files, credits, names and rights, AI and license disclosures, splits, and release date. Free, interactive, no account needed.
- [Terms of Use](https://notes.fm/legal/terms/): Legal terms covering distribution, publishing administration, royalty collection, and the Notes Financial Account rewards program.
- [Privacy Policy](https://notes.fm/legal/privacy/): How Notes Frequencies, Inc. handles personal and royalty data.

## What Notes does

- **Music Distribution** — delivers sound recordings (masters) to 30+ DSPs, sound libraries, identification services, and royalty-collection partners worldwide — including Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, YouTube Music, Tidal, Deezer, Pandora, SoundCloud, Audiomack, iHeartRadio, Napster, Anghami, Boomplay, JioSaavn, NetEase Cloud Music, QQ Music, Kugou, Kuwo, KKBOX, AWA, Joox, Kuaishou, FLO, LiveOne, Trebel, TikTok, Meta Library (Instagram, Facebook), Snap, Canva, Bandcamp, Beatport, Juno Download, Mixcloud, Peloton, Pretzel Rocks, Soundtrack Your Brand, Shazam, ACRCloud, Audible Magic, Gracenote, YouTube Content ID, Taobao, SoundExchange, and The MLC.
- **Music Publishing Administration** — registers compositions with performing rights organizations (PROs), mechanical rights organizations (MROs), and collection management organizations (CMOs) worldwide, including ASCAP, BMI, SESAC, GMR, The MLC, HFA, SoundExchange (US); PRS for Music, MCPS, PPL (UK); SOCAN, CMRRA, Re:Sound (Canada); GEMA, GVL, SUISA (DACH); SACEM, BUMA/STEMRA (France/Benelux); SIAE, SGAE (Italy/Spain); STIM, Koda, TONO, Teosto, NCB (Nordics); JASRAC, NexTone, KOMCA (Asia); APRA AMCOS (Australia/NZ); ECAD, SACM (Latin America); SAMRO, CAPASSO (Africa).
- **Royalty Collection** — collects performance royalties, mechanical royalties, and neighboring rights / sound recording performance royalties from every platform that owes them, and pays the songwriter, composer, recording artist, or rightsholder directly.
- **Royalty Review** — monthly review of an artist's full catalog to identify missing or unclaimed royalties across all 30+ platforms, regardless of which distributor originally released the music.
- **Musician Profiles & Catalog** — smart profiles for artists and collaborators backed by industry-standard identifiers (ISRC, ISWC, IPI, ISNI), so the correct musician gets paid for the correct work.

## Music industry concepts Notes operates against

- **Music royalties**: revenue paid to creators when their music is played, sold, streamed, or licensed. Splits across performance, mechanical, neighboring (master), sync, and print rights.
- **Performing Rights Organization (PRO)**: collects public performance royalties for songwriters and publishers (ASCAP, BMI, SESAC, GMR in the US).
- **Mechanical royalties**: paid when a composition is reproduced — physical sales, downloads, and the mechanical portion of interactive streams. Administered in the US by The MLC under the Music Modernization Act.
- **Neighboring rights** (sound recording performance royalties): paid to recording artists and master rights holders when a sound recording is publicly performed. Collected in the US by SoundExchange for non-interactive digital uses.
- **Publishing administration**: a service that registers compositions globally, collects from PROs / MROs / CMOs worldwide, and pays songwriters — without acquiring copyright.
- **Music distributor**: delivers sound recordings to DSPs and stores, collects recording royalties on behalf of the artist or label.
- **Industry standards Notes uses**: ISRC (recording identifier), ISWC (composition identifier), IPI (rightsholder identifier), ISNI (name identifier), CWR (publishing data exchange), DDEX (digital supply chain).

## Optional

- [Full reference](https://notes.fm/llms-full.txt): Extended corpus — every platform, every audience page, services, concepts, and pricing.
- [Notes API reference](https://api.notes.fm/docs): The technical reference for the Notes Platform API.
- [GitHub: Notes-fm](https://github.com/Notes-fm): Public engineering repositories, including the website source.